Robin Ince: Who needs religion?

The UK's funniest rationalist celebrates the world seen through godless eyes

You're been dubbed an uber-geek. How do you feel about that?I have faced up to what I am. Once you start looking at the world rationally, it becomes much more exciting. For instance, I find the idea that all of my atoms have been jiggling around in other things for billions of years satisfying - it's my own sense of reincarnation.

How do people of faith regard your viewpoint?Religious people often accuse my radio show Infinite Monkey Cage of evangelising, which I quite enjoy. Perhaps we should elevate it to a prayer versus penicillin debate. In fact, I sometimes think: "Oh alright, why don't we make science like a religion. Here's a statue of Einstein, now fall prostrate and worship it if that's what you want, if that is the misunderstanding you prefer."

One idea I explore in my stand-up show is whether, if you try looking at the universe rationally and avoid coping mechanisms like mysticism or religion, you can still be happy knowing you are going to die after a brief time on this spinning ball.

Doesn't looking at the world in a totally rational way make life a bit harder, existentially speaking?I am not offering an alternative to religion. Wherever you are on Earth, there is more life present than in the rest of the known universe. That is an exciting thought which brings you back to Carl Sagan's description of the world as a pale blue dot in the vastness of space, and the idea that life is precious. And the "many worlds" theory of quantum physics gives you so many different options. This is the world I live in now, but there's the world where I accidentally killed the dog, and one where I saved it.

As a humanist, do you feel robbed of an afterlife?There is usually so much wailing at a funeral that I am beginning to wonder how many people really believe in an afterlife. I don't. Death is a kick up the backside. I will, say, live till I'm 80 years old. I am 50 per cent through already and I want to live as good a life as possible because my consciousness will one day come to an end. I want to fit in as much as I can before it switches off.

You seem to be on a mission to geekify the UK. Why?I think it is a pity to live your life in ignorance and embrace that ignorance - for instance with ideas like intelligent design. We live in a world that is entirely powered by reason: everything in your office and my house exists because of reason. It is a very odd world where people reject reason and yet benefit from the riches of reason.

Einstein or Darwin - which do you most admire?I love the Englishness of Darwin, the sweetness of his character. He was a man without arrogance who overturned our view of how all living things came to be as they are, and because of that he suffered fear, doubt and frequent tummy aches.

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